Accessing the internet worldwide
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Accessing the internet worldwide
Hi everyone,
I'm looking to use a pda or small laptop to access the internet pretty much anywhere in the world. I'm thinking I can plug into phone sockets in hotels, use wifi in bars or use a mobile phone. (I can't use public computers because the information I'll be sending/receiving is very sensitive)
The best my research can come up with is http://www.maglobe.com/ - their fees are here - http://www.maglobe.com/enterprise.htm
What I don't get is that the US is $0.44 per hour whereas Europe is $2.79 per hour. Seems a massive difference - are they profiteering? - if so you know of a company that has fair rates worldwide as I'd strongly prefer to use just one company?
Persumably if I connect via a mobile phone I have to pay MAGlobe and the mobile phone company?
Has anyone had experience with this kind of internet usage? I really need to get the costs right down because I'll be a very heavy user.
Thanks for your help!
MrS
I'm looking to use a pda or small laptop to access the internet pretty much anywhere in the world. I'm thinking I can plug into phone sockets in hotels, use wifi in bars or use a mobile phone. (I can't use public computers because the information I'll be sending/receiving is very sensitive)
The best my research can come up with is http://www.maglobe.com/ - their fees are here - http://www.maglobe.com/enterprise.htm
What I don't get is that the US is $0.44 per hour whereas Europe is $2.79 per hour. Seems a massive difference - are they profiteering? - if so you know of a company that has fair rates worldwide as I'd strongly prefer to use just one company?
Persumably if I connect via a mobile phone I have to pay MAGlobe and the mobile phone company?
Has anyone had experience with this kind of internet usage? I really need to get the costs right down because I'll be a very heavy user.
Thanks for your help!
MrS
Spoon PPRuNerist & Mad Inistrator
Using a portable device with "sensitive information" is a bit of a joke, frankly. Unless you can use device encryption. Applies both to laptop and particularly PDA. Yes you can force strong authentication for PDAs and even encrypt them - at a cost. You should investigate whole-disk or folder encryption for a laptop if the information will reside on it.
The only secure method to access data over the internet is via a VPN - either SSL or IPSec based. Of course you can use an unencrypted link if the data itself is encrypted - e.g. using PGP for email.
SD
The only secure method to access data over the internet is via a VPN - either SSL or IPSec based. Of course you can use an unencrypted link if the data itself is encrypted - e.g. using PGP for email.
SD
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Thanks guys,
We can use SSL through the website I need to use - is this allowed by most/all countries? So the main problem may be email, is it possible to send email through SSL?
I guess I could host an email program on an SSL subdomain but that would be new territory!
Also I think hosted email would cost a lot to use because I would need to be connected to the internet constantly whilst using the program?
As far as SSL goes I'm familiar with setting up a subdomain that uses SSL but haven't applied that to email before.
Cheers,
MrS
which may not be allowed in the country you are in.
I guess I could host an email program on an SSL subdomain but that would be new territory!
Also I think hosted email would cost a lot to use because I would need to be connected to the internet constantly whilst using the program?As far as SSL goes I'm familiar with setting up a subdomain that uses SSL but haven't applied that to email before.
Cheers,
MrS
Spoon PPRuNerist & Mad Inistrator
Depending on what the email server that you need to connect to is, you might be able to use IMAPS - i.e. Secure IMAP.
SD
SD
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The security bit is a different issue, and needs to be addressed seriously.
I have a MaGlobe account, which I use heavily when visiting the USA. It's cheap there because landline calls are mostly cheap. It's not so cheap in the UK - and the UK "Freefone" number it offers doesn't work (I think it's an old AOL one that's been discontinued, but nobody told MaGlobe).
I've not researched the topic since I got my MaGlobe account, because I'm happy with it, but when I did, it was dramatically cheaper than any of the other options, didn't require such large upfront credits, and the credits don't expire so quickly - as long as you top up with the minimum amount about once a year.
A friend of mine who globetrotted used AOL, till he found out what I was paying MaGlobe...
I have a MaGlobe account, which I use heavily when visiting the USA. It's cheap there because landline calls are mostly cheap. It's not so cheap in the UK - and the UK "Freefone" number it offers doesn't work (I think it's an old AOL one that's been discontinued, but nobody told MaGlobe).
I've not researched the topic since I got my MaGlobe account, because I'm happy with it, but when I did, it was dramatically cheaper than any of the other options, didn't require such large upfront credits, and the credits don't expire so quickly - as long as you top up with the minimum amount about once a year.
A friend of mine who globetrotted used AOL, till he found out what I was paying MaGlobe...
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mrsurrey, if you just want to access email, you could leave your main machine at home, install a product such as logmein and then simply access it from whatever you have handy. I've used a second notebook, random computers, and a Hermes smartphone to send/receive emails remotely via the home computer. If you really want full access wherever you are, then pack a little ethernet cable with you: I've found lots of places where wired access is cheap/free, an wireless is expensive/ludicrously difficult to connect to.
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There are various options and to a degree it depends on whether your usage is regular or sporadic.
For a start, you can get internet connectivity using any of
1 - an ethernet cable
2 - wifi
3 - gprs/3g
4 - modem
and people will differ on how useful these are. If you always stay in posh hotels then 1 & 2 will be OK, but my experience is that 1 is rare, 2 is rare in cheap hotels and is expensive when you can get it (and unsecured access points in public places are pretty rare nowadays as most serious owners have wisened up to this old scam) and I keep having to fall back on 3 which is cheap or expensive according to your usage but is highly reliable (as good as basic mobile phone reception).
4 should work in most places but you need to carry a collection of phone plugs, and you can get huge bills for using the hotel's phone line for an international call - normally you will be dialling up your UK ISP. This is however quite a good method because for all intents & purposes you are in the UK, so all your application config (email, usenet, etc) will work just the same. Option 4 can also be done over GSM at 9600 baud - very slow but works.
Yesterday I was in Germany (AERO 2007) in a Euro 144/night hotel. No 1 & 2 but 3G went like lightning. At a hefty price though; Voda PAYG is £7.50-£10/MB when roaming, depending on the tariff. Virgin is £5/MB in all cases.
Voda is the only provider I know of that supports the windoze PPTP VPN. IPSEC might work better but I have not been able to get it to work with my routers (Draytek 2900). An SSL VPN will work fine of course; it uses port 80 (HTTP) which nobody will dare block.
I've just bought a fantastic 12" Thinkpad lightweight laptop; the X60S 1704 which has wifi, bluetooth and gprs/3g/hsdpa all built-in. I got it in an as-new ex rental but hardly used condition for about £900 (£1300 new) and it has an 8hr battery life with everything running on full bore. Email me for the firm selling it if you need to.
For heavy data users there are various contracts which offer data bundles. Voda do some juicy ones for a mere £90/month
PAYG data is much cheaper in some places abroad; e.g. in South Africa it is 15 UK pence per MB, and yes the SIM cards do work in the UK and a few other places, but there is no easy way to top them up when out of S.A. This is a big subject and there are loads of tricks one can do. The most obvious thing is to always use a local SIM card.
For ultimate security, you need to encrypt the hard drive. One product I know is called Safeboot. This is extremely secure, but if something happens to the HD and the boot record gets trashed, you can forget everything on it.
For a start, you can get internet connectivity using any of
1 - an ethernet cable
2 - wifi
3 - gprs/3g
4 - modem
and people will differ on how useful these are. If you always stay in posh hotels then 1 & 2 will be OK, but my experience is that 1 is rare, 2 is rare in cheap hotels and is expensive when you can get it (and unsecured access points in public places are pretty rare nowadays as most serious owners have wisened up to this old scam) and I keep having to fall back on 3 which is cheap or expensive according to your usage but is highly reliable (as good as basic mobile phone reception).
4 should work in most places but you need to carry a collection of phone plugs, and you can get huge bills for using the hotel's phone line for an international call - normally you will be dialling up your UK ISP. This is however quite a good method because for all intents & purposes you are in the UK, so all your application config (email, usenet, etc) will work just the same. Option 4 can also be done over GSM at 9600 baud - very slow but works.
Yesterday I was in Germany (AERO 2007) in a Euro 144/night hotel. No 1 & 2 but 3G went like lightning. At a hefty price though; Voda PAYG is £7.50-£10/MB when roaming, depending on the tariff. Virgin is £5/MB in all cases.
Voda is the only provider I know of that supports the windoze PPTP VPN. IPSEC might work better but I have not been able to get it to work with my routers (Draytek 2900). An SSL VPN will work fine of course; it uses port 80 (HTTP) which nobody will dare block.
I've just bought a fantastic 12" Thinkpad lightweight laptop; the X60S 1704 which has wifi, bluetooth and gprs/3g/hsdpa all built-in. I got it in an as-new ex rental but hardly used condition for about £900 (£1300 new) and it has an 8hr battery life with everything running on full bore. Email me for the firm selling it if you need to.
For heavy data users there are various contracts which offer data bundles. Voda do some juicy ones for a mere £90/month
PAYG data is much cheaper in some places abroad; e.g. in South Africa it is 15 UK pence per MB, and yes the SIM cards do work in the UK and a few other places, but there is no easy way to top them up when out of S.A. This is a big subject and there are loads of tricks one can do. The most obvious thing is to always use a local SIM card.
For ultimate security, you need to encrypt the hard drive. One product I know is called Safeboot. This is extremely secure, but if something happens to the HD and the boot record gets trashed, you can forget everything on it.
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That's the expensive way!
I have a small bag of telephone plugs (US jack to UK/BT, German, French, and a few others) plus a US-jack-to-croc-clips device and a small screwdriver. I've never yet failed to make connection to the hotel telephone system, although most hotels I've used recently have a suitable modem socket anyway.
Then, I start MaGlobe, tell it what country I'm in, and the town. Sometimes it asks me the phone number of the hotel (to get the best "local area" charge rate). It asks the code for an outside line, and whether I want to use "Freefone" or "Local call". Then it connects me to the Internet. Never fails!
OK, it's 56k at best, and sometimes down around 28k8, but I can do my mail and check important stuff.
I have a separate identity on my laptop for sending via Maglobe - it uses the same e-mail address, but a different SMTP server and identification setup. That's with Thunderbird - I don't know if the Microsoft mailer packages can do that.
The Freefone bit usually means the hotel system makes no charge at all. Hotels that charge for calling a freefone number from the room are not likely to get my business anyway - that's just too cheeky!
I have a small bag of telephone plugs (US jack to UK/BT, German, French, and a few others) plus a US-jack-to-croc-clips device and a small screwdriver. I've never yet failed to make connection to the hotel telephone system, although most hotels I've used recently have a suitable modem socket anyway.
Then, I start MaGlobe, tell it what country I'm in, and the town. Sometimes it asks me the phone number of the hotel (to get the best "local area" charge rate). It asks the code for an outside line, and whether I want to use "Freefone" or "Local call". Then it connects me to the Internet. Never fails!
OK, it's 56k at best, and sometimes down around 28k8, but I can do my mail and check important stuff.
I have a separate identity on my laptop for sending via Maglobe - it uses the same e-mail address, but a different SMTP server and identification setup. That's with Thunderbird - I don't know if the Microsoft mailer packages can do that.
The Freefone bit usually means the hotel system makes no charge at all. Hotels that charge for calling a freefone number from the room are not likely to get my business anyway - that's just too cheeky!
